Donny van de Beek was one of few shining lights for Manchester United in their 4-1 defeat to Watford on Saturday afternoon.United were utterly humiliated at Vicarage Road with Joshua King, Ismaïla Sarr, Joao Pedro and Emmanuel Dennis all scoring in a defeat that could spell the end for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.It's almost unanimously agreed at this point that Solskjaer isn't the man to take the Red Devils forward and there's good reason to think that the Glazers could show him the door very soon.
Van de Beek's tough time at Man Utd
And while it would certainly be sad to see a club legend leaving Old Trafford in such devastating circumstances, there's no denying that it would surely benefit the career of Van de Beek.
The former Ajax midfielder's limited role under Solskjaer has bordered on inexplicable with the United coach having only gifted him four Premier League starts in one and a half seasons.
And what makes Van de Beek's relative exile all the more bewildering is that he always looks superb when he actually does get the chance to play for United - and that was certainly the case at Watford, too.
Watford 4-1 Man Utd match reaction (Football Terrace)
Van de Beek impresses at Watford
Solskjaer introduced the 24-year-old alongside Anthony Martial at half-time and he even scored United's only goal on the day by heading home from close range with 50 minutes on the clock.
And despite the visitors crumbling in the final minutes to ultimately lose by two more goals, Van de Beek dropped the sort of performance that makes you wonder why Solskjaer has barely played him.
According to Sofascore, Van de Beek produced the best match rating of any United player with his score of 7.7/10 comfortably placing above the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Van de Beek's highlights vs Watford
The Dutchman made three key passes, created a big chance, completed two tackles and chipped in with an interception and 79% passing accuracy as well as, of course, actually finding the net.
However, none of Van de Beek's statistics could possibly illustrate the brilliance of his performance better than his individual highlights, which you can enjoy at your own leisure down below:
Quite simply, it makes you wonder why Solskjaer has been so tough on him.
Solskjaer's harsh treatment of Van de Beek
With all the murmurs and whispers coming out of Carrington suggesting that Van de Beek is a model professional giving his all, it's beggar belief that he hasn't been given more opportunity.
Naturally, it's impossible to knows the ins and outs of what happens behind the scenes, but what we do know is that Van de Beek is almost always exceptional when he's actually given the chance.
Premier League 2021/22: Fixtures, Results, Odds, Ball, Tickets And Everything You Need To Know
And there could be no better demonstration of that than Van de Beek still looking so warrior-like, energetic and exciting on what will go down as one of United's worst ever Premier League defeats.
